Improving the quality of laboratory testing

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• Sebastian Gelderbloem 23 Aug 2017

  I am particularly interested in the progress made by the African CDC. Since their meeting in 2013 it was established that laboratory strengthening is one of the African CDCs pillars and that part of their 5 year plan was to: "also work to improve workforce competency and quality assurance by working with networks of clinical and public health laboratories."
  Maybe some of you have insights or experience about the progress made and what we as a laboratory community can do to assist this initiative? I would welcome some feedback?

• Sebastian Gelderbloem 23 Aug 2017

  Dear André, very interesting article and thank you for sharing. I find that the integration of programmes in to the broader country programmes is often a lengthy process. So my question is until that happens what do we do? Also a second question indirectly related to your article is concerning accreditation. Accreditation is a lengthy and costly process, so are there alternatives that provide the assurance of quality?

• André Trollip 22 May 2017

  In a recent article in the African Journal of Laboratory Medicine [Afr J Lab Med.2017;6(2)], Albert et al. describe a customised approach called ‘TB SLMTA’ for strengthening tuberculosis laboratory Quality Management Systems (QMS). The authors conclude a structured training and mentoring programme such as ‘TB SLMTA’ can build a foundation towards further quality improvement, but structured mentoring, and institutionalisation of QMS into country programmes is needed to support tuberculosis laboratories to achieve their accreditation goals.

  Attached files: 576-6229-1-PB.pdf
• André Trollip 22 May 2017

  In a recent article in the African Journal of Laboratory Medicine [Afr J Lab Med.2017;6(2)], Albert et al. describe the progress towards accreditation of National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratories in Africa.
  They conclude that good foundations are in place on the continent from which to scale up accreditation efforts; however, political commitment and strong leadership are needed to drive accreditation efforts.
  

  Attached files: 490-6204-1-PB.pdf